Killing spree over electricity lines

Fifteen years and 19 murders later, electricity still eludes two villages of Bhagalpur district in the lawless Indian state of Bihar.

People in Koyli and Khutaha in power-scarce Bhagalpur district have been killing each other since 1991 in a bloody war to light up their villages.

In a state where only 10% of the homes have electricity and per capita consumption is a mere 60kwh compared to the Indian average of 354kwh, electricity remains elusive for most people.
The killing spree over power in the two villages began in 1991 when district electricity officials set up a pair of cement electric poles along with a transformer in Koyli.

It was the first time since independence in 1947 that the authorities had woken up to the need of providing electricity to the area.

Vengeful Incensed villagers in neighbouring Khutaha uprooted the poles and carried them away to their village at night thinking that the move would help them in getting electricity faster.
When the Koyli villagers discovered, they attacked their neighbours.

A three-hour-long gun battle between members of the two villages in April 1991 left one person dead and two others wounded. All of them were from Khutaha. Three years later, Koyli took its revenge - three residents of Khutaha were gunned down in June 1994.

A few months later, Khutaha villagers killed two brothers from Koyli. Koyli again retaliated a year later - and the killings continued. Since 1991, Koyli has lost 12 residents and Khutaha seven of its people in viciously vengeful battles over electricity.

Rajkumar Yadav says the situation "is tense, but under control" All the while, electricity has continued to elude the warring villages, even as many surrounding villages were lit up.
The situation became so bad that about 200 families from the two villages moved out to other places in Bhagalpur.

"There is no way out except migrate because anybody could get killed any time in this war over electricity," says Ravindra Yadav, the head of Khutaha.
There has been no fighting since 2000, but an uneasy calm has prevailed ever since.
"You can best sum up the situation as tense but under control," says Rajkumar Yadav, whose father was murdered in the power wars.
'Historic'
The villagers have also deposited $4,000 with the authorities for electrification.
The electricity department again arrived with fresh poles in April and set them up in both villages - but they have not been wired yet. They promised connections within two months.
Six months later, the villagers are still waiting.
"If they keep their promise, it will be a historic occasion for the two villages," says Baloo Yadav from Khutaha.
Khutaha and Koyli are not remote Bihar villages - they are just eight kilometres (five miles) away from the bustling town of Bhagalpur.

The first electric poles were installed in 1991Over 70% of its people are literate and many work in government jobs. A Koyli villager even topped the state bureaucracy examinations in 1998.
But all this has not helped the village to get the attention of the authorities 59 years after independence.

Things may be changing for the better now, officials say.

"Recent village council elections were peaceful. It seems that the two villages are ready to forget their bloody pasts," says Bhagalpur district magistrate Vipin Kumar. Residents of both villagers are certainly hoping so

Endangered Garuda birds are breeding in Bhagalpur

It is good news for bird lovers. The endangered Garuda bird of the stork family has been sighted in a village in Bihar's Bhagalpur district, where the birds have also started nesting.
"The endangered Garuda birds have taken shelter on a silk cotton tree near a village in Ganga-Diara area in Bhagalpur. They are breeding, a major occasion in the conservation of the birds," Arvind Mishra, an avid naturalist, told IANS.

"The Garuda birds face very high risk of extinction if proper conservation efforts are not taken. There are only 800 Garuda birds around the world and a few dozen in India," said Mishra, coordinator in Bihar and Jharkhand for the Indian Birds Conservation Network.

The Garuda, biologically known as Greater Adjutant, is classified as Endangered on the IUCN Red List 2004 of threatened species and listed under Schedule IV of the Indian Wildlife (Protection) Act, 1972. The large wading bird belongs to the Leptoptilos dubius species.
This huge stork has a naked pink head, a very thick yellow bill and a low-hanging neck pouch. The neck ruff is white. The bird looks like a vulture. Other than the pale grey edge on each wing, the rest of the Greater Adjutant's body is dark grey.

Juveniles have a narrower bill, thicker down on the head and neck and entirely dark wings, Mishra said. A Garuda bird measures 145-150 cm (about three feet) in length and four to five feet in height.

Mishra, who has been studying birds and conducting surveys for conservation, said: "The birds are on the verge of extinction. Attempts are being made all over the world to conserve and save them."

According to Tapan Ghosh of Mandar Nature Club in Bhagalpur, his club has been working hard to create awareness among the locals on the need for protecting the endangered birds.
He said that last month some villagers sighted the birds on a silk cotton tree and informed the club.

"It is big news that the Garuda birds have chosen this place for shelter and breeding," Ghosh said.

"We have seen a few baby chicks. Out motive is to provide them full protection with the support of locals. The villagers have promised not to disturb their shelter."

Mishra said that several villagers have started worshipping the Garuda birds and the tree on which they have made their nest.

Garuda is the name of the huge bird mentioned in the Indian epic "Mahabharata".
Ghosh said the nesting season of the birds is between September and January. The nests, usually built right on the top of the tree canopy, measure 90-110 cm in diameter.
The Greater Adjutant was formerly found in South and Southeast Asia but there were reports of the birds being sighted in Assam in India and in Cambodia.

"Bhagalpur is the third nesting region of this species in the world. This could be a good sign for the survival of a good number of the species," said Mishra, who has been working on a project supported by the Wildlife Trust of India for the protection of the species.

The number of these bird species has declined drastically in the past few years.
The main threat they now face in Bihar is from the local nomadic Banpar tribes, which collect the eggs and chicks and hunt the birds for food.

Another threat, according to Mishra, is the anti-inflammatory medicine Diclofenac that is used by veterinarians and a major reason behind pushing vultures to near extinction.
The Greater Adjutant feeds on the carcass of dead cattle and could be similarly affected by the medicine, said Mishra, also a member on the Bihar wildlife board.

In May 2006, 42 birds were seen by Mishra and the Mandar Nature Club team for the first time. Prior to this, the Greater Adjutant had never been seen in Bihar during its breeding period.

The Greater Adjutant, like most of its relatives, feeds mainly on frogs and large insects but also young birds, lizards and rodents.

Loss of nesting habitat and feeding sites through drainage, pollutions and disturbance, together with hunting and egg collection, has caused a massive dip in the population of this species.

Courtesy : IANS

Ten-year-old girl has hand cut offf for stealing spinach

A HUNGRY 10-year-old girl from lowest Hindu caste had all the fingers of her right hand chopped off by an upper-caste landowner for taking a few spinach leaves from his field, the Hindustan Times reported.

The attack took place in a village in Bhagalpur district recently in Bihar state in the east where caste prejudice against Dalits – formerly called "untouchables" – is widespread and sometimes results in violence against them.

Police in Bhagalpur, in eastern Bihar, said they would soon arrest the upper-caste landowner who used a sickle to wound the girl whose name was given as Khushboo.

35 killed in Bhagalpur train tragedy

The number of dead in the train disaster in Bhagalpur in Bihar rose to 35 on Sunday with two more persons succumbing to their injuries in hospital, an Eastern Railway release said.
The two persons are Uttam Majumdar and Bhagwan Prasad, the release said, adding that 26 bodies had been identified. The tracks have been cleared of debris and the first train to pass through Bhagalpur after restoration of tracks was the Malda-bound Farakka Express and the second train to cross the incident site was Delhi-bound Brahmaputra Mail at about 9 am on Sunday.
Meanwhile, Commissioner of Railway Safety, Eastern Circle R P Agarwal, asked to hold an inquiry into the mishap, has reached in Bhagalpur, railway sources said, adding that Agrawal would hold the statutory probe into the accident when a 140-year-old overbridge, being dismantled by the Railways, collapsed on the Howrah-Jamalpur Express on Saturday.
The release said some of the injured, requiring specialised orthopaedic treatment, would be shifted to Howrah Railway Orthopaedic Hospital in Kolkata at the cost of the Railways.
A total of 34 persons, including seven women and four children, were killed and 18 others injured when a 150-year-old road overbridge came crashing down on Howrah-Jamalpur Express near the railway station in Bhagalpur, Bhagalpur District Magistrate Bipin Kumar said.